Temporal mood changes associated with different levels of adolescent drinking: Using mobile phones and experience sampling methods to explore motivations for adolescent alcohol use ALEXANDER H. D. CROOKE 1 , SOPHIE C. REID 1 , SYLVIA D. KAUER 1 , DEAN P. MCKENZIE 1,2 , STEPHEN J. C. HEARPS 1 , ANGELA S. KHOR 1 & ANDREW B. FORBES 2 1 Murdoch Childrens’ Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and 2 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University The Alfred Centre, Melbourne, Australia Abstract Introduction and Aims. Alcohol use during adolescence is associated with the onset of alcohol use disorders, mental health disorders, substance abuse as well as socially and physically damaging behaviours, the effects of which last well into adulthood. Nevertheless, alcohol use remains prevalent in this population. Understanding motivations behind adolescent alcohol consump- tion may help in developing more appropriate and effective interventions. This study aims to increase this understanding by exploring the temporal relationship between mood and different levels of alcohol intake in a sample of young people. Design and Methods. Forty-one secondary school students used a purpose-designed mobile phone application to monitor their daily mood and alcohol use for 20 random days within a 31 day period. Generalised estimating equations were used to examine the relationship between differing levels of alcohol consumption (light, intermediate and heavy) and positive and negative mood three days before and after drinking episodes. Results. While there was no relationship between light and heavy drinking and positive mood, there was an increase in positive mood before and after the drinking event for those that drank intermediate amounts. No statistically significant relationships were found between negative mood and any of the three drinking categories. Discussion and Conclusion. Adolescents who drank in intermediate amounts on a single drinking occasion experienced an increase in positive mood over the three days leading up to and three days following a drinking event. These findings contribute to an understanding of the motivations that underpin adolescent alcohol use, which may help inform future interventions. [Crooke AH, Reid SC, Kauer SD, McKenzie DP, Hearps SJC, Khor AS, Forbes AB. Temporal mood changes associated with different levels of adolescent drinking: Using mobile phones and experience sampling methods to explore motivations for adolescent alcohol use. Drug Alcohol Rev 2013;32:262–268] Key words: alcohol, adolescent, mood, motivation, temporal. Introduction Alcohol use during adolescence is associated with the onset of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) [1], mental health disorders [2], other substance abuse and socially and physically damaging behaviours that last well into adulthood [3–8]. Nevertheless, alcohol use is prevalent in this population [2,5,6], and most young Australians have consumed alcohol, many in significant amounts, before the age of 18 [9–11]. Given that most AUDs are said to be developed by the age of 18–25 years [1] and that patterns of alcohol use are established during the teenage years [5,7,8], understanding this relationship and developing appropriate interventions is critical for the adolescent population and is likely to reduce both the immediate and long-term effects of alcohol use [4,5,8]. Education initiatives based on an understanding of the personality traits and motivational factors underly- ing alcohol consumption, which aim to minimise the harms of alcohol use by moderating rather than elimi- nating use, have proven promising for reducing con- Alexander H. D. Crooke BSocSc (Hons), Research Assistant, Sophie C. Reid MPsych (Clinical), PhD, Research fellow, Sylvia D. Kauer BBehavSci (Hons), PhD, Scholar, Dean P. McKenzie BA (Hons), PhD, NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellow & Honourary Research Fellow, NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellow & Senior Research Fellow, Stephen J. C. Hearps BPsych, PGDipPsych, Research Assistant/Data Analyst, Angela S. Khor BA (Hons), Research Assistant, Andrew B. Forbes BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, Professor and Head of Research Methodology Division. Correspondence to Mr Alexander H. D. Crooke, Murdoch Childrens’ Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville,Vic. 3052, Australia.Tel: +61 408 677 023; Fax: +61 3 9345 6273; E-mail: alexander.crooke@mcri.edu.au; alexcrooke@westnet.com.au Received 3 August 2012; accepted for publication 19 January 2013. REVIEW Drug and Alcohol Review (May 2013), 32, 262–268 DOI: 10.1111/dar.12034 © 2013 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs